“Take one and crush it,” I’m being instructed.

I cautiously extract a dried juniper berry from an open jar on the marble countertop, then amateurishly pry it open between index finger and thumb and bring it to my nose.

“It smells like gin,” I blurt in wonder, and the bartender laughs.

Next, the waxy petal of a torch ginger flower is presented to me, and I dutifully split it. A waft of Chinese rojak sauce lingers in the nose — but this time, I hold the thought.

I later learn the ingredient is indeed key to a good plate of rojak, and also part of the 22 botanicals that make up the essence of the homegrown distillery’s Singapore Dry Gin.